


A Promise Whispered

by flipflop_diva



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hurt Natasha Romanov, Hurt/Comfort, Natasha Needs a Hug, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Protective Steve, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-23
Updated: 2015-02-23
Packaged: 2018-03-14 17:38:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3419630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/pseuds/flipflop_diva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A phone call. A moment of fear. A hand to hold. Written for the prompt: <i>"I promise you, I will not let anything happen to you."</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	A Promise Whispered

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the weekend challenge at 1 Million Words on LJ. I'm not exactly sure what this is, and it's a bit different than my normal style, but I hope someone enjoys!

The call came when he was with Sam.

“Just go,” Sam said. “It’s fine.”

Tony was pacing back and forth when he got there.

“She’s okay,” he said. “She’ll be okay. She’s okay.”

He said it like a mantra, like it would make it real.

“What happened?” Steve asked. 

_Where is she? Can I see her?_ The questions he didn’t say.

“We don’t know.”

“You don’t know? How can you not know?”

“It happened so fast. It was chaos. Screams. Gunshots.”

That wasn’t the answer he wanted.

“What happened?”

“They attacked her. They wanted her.”

“No.” A shake of his head. It didn’t make any sense. “She’d fight them.”

“Drugged. We think she was drugged. Her drink maybe.”

“No. She would know. She knows what to look for.”

Tony’s the one with the head shaking now. “She didn’t know. Not this time.”

“That’s not possible.”

“She’s been off lately.” A quiet voice from behind him. Bruce.

An angry glare from Tony at the man interrupting. “The people who came after her are smart.” A rebuttal to Bruce’s comment.

Neither answer made Steve feel better.

“Who are they? Who did this?”

Bruce shoved photos into his hand. A stack of them. Full of faces he didn’t recognize, but thought he should. 

“Russian?”

“She blew all her covers,” Tony said. “She’s easy to find now.”

“The Russians want her?”

“They want her back. Or Hydra does. Someone does.”

A knot of fear. A ball of panic.

“No,” he said. “They can’t have her.”

“She’s okay.” Tony speaking again. “We’ll protect her.”

“Like you did today?” Anger rising, fast, furious.

“We weren’t prepared. Next time we will be.”

“How can you be sure?”

A hand on his shoulder, a solemn expression on Tony’s face. “You have to trust us.”

•••

They finally let him see her. He couldn’t find the words to ask, but they knew what he wanted anyway.

She was curled in a ball in the makeshift hospital bed. Her face was bruised. So were her arms, her legs, everywhere he could see.

She looked small. Young. Scared.

He’d only seen her look scared once before. When she thought the Winter Soldier was going to kill her on a chaotic street in Washington D.C.

But that was for a moment. This was different.

He pulled up a chair, took a seat. He reached for her hand, laced their fingers together, used his other hand to stroke her hair. He felt her tense, but he didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. He needed her to be safe, to be okay.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here,” he murmured.

“You’re here now,” she said. 

Hours later, he slid in beside her, pulled her into his arms. He could still feel her trembling, feel her fear.

“I can’t go back,” she whispered. “If they try again ….”

“That’s not going to happen.”

It wasn’t. She was too good, too smart. And she had them. They were a team. They would protect her. _He_ would protect her. There was no other option.

Her fingers dug into his arms, her body clinging to his. The words she didn’t say hanging in the air: _I’m scared._ The words he didn’t say echoing in their aftermath: _You’re smart. You’re strong. I believe in you._

She fell asleep in his arms. He held her tighter, whispered a promise into the silence.

“I will not let anything happen to you.”

He couldn’t. He wouldn’t survive if something did.


End file.
